The US dominance of international financial transfers, which has tended to be done through a system known as SWIFT is being impacted as the USA continues to press sanctions as a means to punish Iran, Russia, and others.

22 October 2018

The US aims to disconnect Iran from the SWIFT global payment network as part of new economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic in November. Disconnection from network would make it difficult for Iran to get paid for exports.

“I can assure you our objective is to make sure that sanctioned transactions do not occur whether it’s through SWIFT or any other mechanism,” US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Reuters on Sunday. “Our focus is to make sure that the sanctions are enforced.” …

While the Trump administration is pressuring its allies to cut Iranian oil imports to “zero” next month, the White House also seeks to hit Tehran hard by cutting the country off from SWIFT, a Belgian-based financial messaging service. In doing so, Iran would lose its ability to be paid for its exports and to pay for imports. …

As President Donald Trump tries to tighten the noose on Iran, cutting Tehran off from SWIFT might be a far-fetched idea – as long as Germany, France, and the UK remain parties to the Iran nuclear deal.

In fact, the other two members of the nuclear agreement – Russia and China – are both pursuing their own payment systems to bypass the SWIFT network. Germany has also recently suggested creating a rival European payment system based on the euro in order to bypass US sanctions. https://www.rt.com/business/441904-iran-swift-mnuchin-sanctions/

October 22, 2018

While Mnuchin declined to give details of the talks with SWIFT executives, he said that the Treasury Department would identify “as quickly as possible” banks that would be allowed to process transactions for humanitarian funding to Iran, and by implication identifying all the banks that would be isolated. “We want to get to the right outcome, which is cutting off transactions,” he said, declining to comment on which banks would be selected.

Foreign banks will soon be able to become part of Russia’s money transfer network which serves as an alternative to the traditional SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) system.

“Non-residents will start connecting to us this year. People are already turning to us,” said First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia Olga Skorobogatova. Earlier, the official said that by using the alternative payment system foreign firms would be able to do business with sanctioned Russian companies.

As of September, 416 Russian companies have joined the System for Transfer of Financial Messages (SPFS), including the Russian Federal Treasury and large state corporations including Gazprom Neft, Rosneft, and others, the Central Bank said.

The potential exclusion of Russia from SWIFT worried the country’s banks in 2014, when the EU and the US introduced the first round of international sanctions against Moscow over alleged involvement in the Ukraine crisis and the reunification with Crimea. SWIFT has said it remains neutral in the political conflict.

There have been reports that despite such claims, the US has enough power to block transactions through SWIFT. …

Notice also that even Switzerland is willing to use something other than the US dominated SWIFT system.

The internationally acknowledged banking center has joined the voices from across Europe about creating an independent analog for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) amid US anti-Iran sanctions. Russia, which has already created its own system, voiced readiness to cooperate within a “euro-SWIFT” system.

Swiss Ambassador to Moscow Yves Rossier has affirmed that his country can join other states in setting up an independent alternative the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

“If there are any new developments in the financial sector, we will closely monitor them, but this is clearly a matter for reflection in the EU, not in Switzerland… But if a new payment system appears, every country will take part in it, including us, of course, why not,” the diplomat told Sputnik. …

The German government is working together with the EEAS and European Commission, as well as France and the United Kingdom, on maintaining financial payment channels with Iran,” the spokesperson noted, adding, “The negotiations on this are intensive and ongoing. There are different models under consideration,” cited by Politico.

Russia Ready to Join

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, commenting on the recent statements, has expressed Moscow’s readiness to cooperate within some kind of euro-SWIFT system to process operations among European banks and financial institutions, including oil and other resources payments.

«We are ready to join such offers. That’s why it seems to me that this would be a way-out and response to these restrictions the US is imposing on companies and financial institutions, using dollars for settlements,” he told the Russian broadcaster Rossiya 24.

The Brussels-based international interbank payment system SWIFT, created in the 70s, is now used by nearly 11,000 organizations in more than 200 countries. Criticized for sharing some information with the US government following the 9/11 attacks, the system in 2014 stated that it’s been put under pressure by some countries, insisting on its joining the sanctions against Russia. 10/05/18 https://sputniknews.com/business/201810051068629556-switzerland-eu-swift-alternative/

Since I have mainly quoted from Russian sources, is this simply Russian propaganda?

No.

Notice something from the Wall Street Journal:

Brussels and European Union states seem ready to stage a battle with Washington over an obscure but important financial-service network—against Europe’s own interests.

The looming brouhaha concerns Swift …

Swift is particularly prone to U.S. pressure because the American financial system looms so large in the world. Swift’s board includes representatives of European and American banks, and many messages across its network travel to or from the U.S. Some Europeans believe Washington wields too much influence over a network they think should operate on a multilateral consensus like a financial EU. 10/17/18 https://www.wsj.com/articles/europes-not-so-swift-diplomacy-1539730896

Notice something from the German press a while back:

Germany urges SWIFT end to US payments dominance

Work on creating a European payment system independent of the dominant existing international system SWIFT has already begun, Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said at the opening of an ambassadors’ conference at the foreign ministry in Berlin on Monday.

“We must increase Europe’s autonomy and sovereignty in trade, economic and financial policies,” he said. “It will not be easy, but we have already begun to do it.”

Christopher Bovis, professor of international business law at the University of Hull in the UK, said that this was already happening. “The European Commission has been developing a system, a parallel system to SWIFT which will allow Iran to interface with European financial systems, European clearing systems, using the nominations supported and created by the European Investment Bank based on the euro,” he told DW. …

Based in Belgium, SWIFT claims political neutrality, but has bowed to US influence in the past, blocking transactions to Cuba and Iran. …

Unless it wins an exemption from sanctions, SWIFT will be required by the US to cut off targeted Iranian banks from its network by November 4 or face countermeasures against both its board members and the financial institutions that employ them.

Several European companies have already withdrawn from the country over fears of being subjected to US sanctions. …

“It is also highly likely that the EU will develop a system which mirrors the SWIFT functions but without the interference of the US administration,” Bovis said.

“The Deutsche Börse owns and controls international central securities depositories such as Euroclear and Clearstream. SWIFT does not have a monopoly in international intra-banking transactions. The EU has legal and regulatory powers to combine asset and cash swapping and clearing houses and create a parallel system to SWIFT in order to accommodate transactions of Iranian financial institutions in the light of the recent agreement between Iran and the major western economies, including Russia, after the withdrawal of the current USA administration. This parallel system of financial infrastructure represents a type of financial utility which could be linked to the European Investment Bank and provide denominated credit facilities in euros,” Bovis added. …

“At the moment, we are head-on on a collision course between the two continents, between the two economic systems. And the utilization of the financial regulatory environment including SWIFT, including payment and clearing system is used to promote the economic and diplomatic goals of the US. And the EU is responding quite successfully,” Bovis said. …

Thorsten Benner, director of Berlin-based think tank Global Public Policy Institute told DW, that the US would “for sure seek to divide and pressure the EU” on this. “The EU developing an independent system making it immune from US sanctions, very much threatens key US interests in the perception of the Trump administration.” …

Benner believes. “For salvaging Iran deal, the EU will have to rely on China.”

“China has the necessary independent system for this if it so chooses to use it,” Benner said, adding that there was a certain irony in the fact that SWIFT was based in Europe — the yery same continent that was now forced to create an alternative system to it.

EU Looking to Sidestep U.S. Sanctions With Payments System Plan

Germany and France said they’re working on financing solutions to sidestep U.S. sanctions against countries such as Iran, including a possible role for central banks.

The discussions … are a signal that European powers are trying to get serious about demonstrating a greater level of independence from the U.S. as President Donald Trump pursues his “America First” agenda.

“With Germany, we are determined to work on an independent European or Franco-German financing tool which would allow us to avoid being the collateral victims of U.S. extra-territorial sanctions,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday during a meeting with press association AJEF. “I want Europe to be a sovereign continent not a vassal, and that means having totally independent financing instruments that do not today exist.” …

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also weighed in Monday, saying the EU is working to protect economic ties with Iran and keep payment channels open. Maas reiterated a proposal to make international payments systems like Swift more independent of the U.S. …

Maas said that while most of the “very difficult questions on the details” of any payments system are unresolved, at least the alternative of a nuclear escalation in the Middle East has so far been avoided. As well as the U.S. sanctions against Iran, action taken against China, Russia and Turkey will also damage European business, he added.

Summary

Europe’s alternative to SWIFT will allow them to get around trade sanctions the US has put on Iran.

Russia, China, and European leaders have all expressed the desire to move past the dollar system for international trade.

The Dollar’s reserve currency status is under serious threat considering trade deals being negotiated in other currencies and gold.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Europe has agreed to develop an alternative to the SWIFT payments system to facilitate trade with Iran.

The European Union’s announcement that it would establish a special payments channel to maintain economic ties with Iran sent a clear message to Tehran and Washington: Europe is intent on trying to save the 2015 nuclear deal.

Clearly Church of God predictions, based upon biblical prophecies, that the Europeans would take steps to rise up economically, dominate trade, and one day overtake the USA are starting to come to pass.

While Russia has been developing its own ways around SWIFT, even the Russian press has been reporting that Russia would like to be part of an alternative to SWIFT that the Europeans are working on developing.

Instead of accepting USA tariffs and sanction ‘punishments’ and doing nothing, various nations have been taking steps.

Currently, the USA benefits from most international trade as most of the time nations use US dollars for trade. Every time a nation stops doing that, or reduces doing that, it has a negative effect on the economy of the USA.

As I have written before, there is a price to pay for US sanctions and they do affect the dollar.

World events continue to confirm items posted here as well as in our videos. Here are two such videos:

A recent headline was “Is Trump Pushing Germany to Russia?” There have been comments by German and Russian leaders that they have aligned interests that Donald Trump opposes and need to take financial, military, and other steps to assist Europe. Russia and the EU (European Union) still support the Iran nuclear deal, Paris Climate accords, and the World Trade Organization, despite Donald Trump’s actions against them. Have there been comments to replace the USA’s SWIFT system by the Russians and Germans? What is Russia’s MIR payment system? What about talks for the EU to have trade and other arrangements with the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union)? Did the old Radio Church of God foretell of the development of a Russian and German plan to eliminate the USA? Has Russia indicated that it wants Alaska back? Is the giving of USA territories to Russia by a coming European leader consistent with a prophecy in the Book of Daniel? Here is a link to our video: Is Donald Trump pushing Europe to Russia?

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said new US sanctions would be a declaration of economic war. Iran, North Korea, China, Europe, and Turkey are also upset about USA sanctions and tariffs. A Turk asserted “Somebody must find a solution and stop the USA.” The BRICS nations see US sanctions and tariffs as helpful to their objectives to trade without the USA. Are “unintended consequences” of USA policies threatening the current Anglo-American world order and leading to a New World Order? What has ‘Lord’ Jacob Rothschild and Russian President Vladimir Putin stated? Does Bible prophecy show that a confederation of Turks, Arabs, and Europeans pose a real threat to the USA and UK? Is the final time of the Gentiles coming? Will it be worse than people imagine? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more. Here is a link to our video: US Sanctions and Tariffs leading to New World Order?

The Tectonic Plates of Geopolitics Are Starting to Shift

The United States is currently waging economic warfare against one tenth of the world’s countries with cumulative population of nearly 2 billion people and combined gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $15 trillion.

These include Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, North Korea and others on which Washington has imposed sanctions over the years, but also countries like China, Pakistan and Turkey which are not under full sanctions but rather targets of other punitive economic measures. …

I think history will show Trump’s decision to unilaterally scrap the Iran deal (JCPOA) was the catalyst that caused much of rest of the world to get serious about creating alternative financial rails on which to conduct global business. Nation-states the world over are coming to the obvious conclusion that it’s virtually impossible to execute independent foreign policy in the content of a global financial system so completely dominated by the U.S. …

We’re beginning to see the emergence of a global consensus related to two crucial geopolitical perspectives:

A growing understanding that a world unilaterally controlled by an imperial U.S. which demands all other nations accept vassal status is no longer tenable.

Recognition that a more multi-polar world cannot truly come into being without displacing, or at the very least creating, a viable alternative(s) to the USD-centric global financial system. …

Michael Krieger may well be right that we could have a world with what would be considered an entirely different structure by 2025. The end of humanities 6000 years of human rule is getting closer and it will end with the final time of the Gentiles. This rise coincides with the end of the Anglo-American world order.

As I wrote before Donald Trump took office, there would be unintentional consequences of his actions and policies.

Donald Trump’s foreign policy statements have unsettled many—in the U.S.A. as well as foreign nations. He seems like he will more unpredictable than Richard Nixon.

There is also something referred to as the “law of unintended consequences.” There are consequences for the U.S.A., Europe, and elsewhere that have and will occur because of Donald Trump’s statements and actions. (Thiel B. Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse. Nazarene Books, 2017)

We are starting to see “fallout” (unintended consequences) of Donald Trump’s policies from Europe and elsewhere. Europe’s relationship will NOT continue in the future with the USA as it has been.

Dethroning the US dollar will cause massive economic problems for the USA. Much more than almost anyone believes. The standard of living in the USA has been raised/subsidized for decades because of the status of the US dollar. That status is weakening. This will ultimately severely hurt the USA.

What will happen to the economy of the USA will be much worse than what happened to the UK when the pound sterling lost its status as the world’s primary reserve currency.